Just to clarify on my original post (which is old) I was applying some car wax to the outside of the barrel. This helped renew and protect some of the tarnishing that was occurring on the outside of my stiff stik stiffi barrel. It would restore the coloring of the barrel that would get faded from scratching over time and helped protect it some. I do not recommend putting the car wax inside the barrel as I feel this would have a negative impact on performance. I was shown this trick by another player a while back and it does do a good job of keeping the resin protected and looking nice.

I do not recommend putting the car wax inside the barrel as I feel this would have a negative impact on performance.

I could see this being a concern if your barrel had a ceramic coating, or some other factory finish intended to reduce friction or repel moisture. But other than your gut, what makes you think making the inside of the barrel more slippery would have a negative impact on performance?

Oh, and BTW, the average thickness of a layer of car wax is in the neighborhood of 20nm, or less than .0001% of the diameter of your barrel. I guess since it's annular, it will reduce the diameter by .0002%.

A citation would lead to a document which verifies your inference. There is nothing on that page that expresses or implies that there are any abrasives in standard Turtle Wax. You may be referring to the statement that it "gently lifts away ingrained grime and light oxidation", which on its face seems to imply an abrasive nature, but alas, there are many methods to gently lift away grime.

The question of whether or not it's a 'cleaner wax' by strict definition is whether or not it contains polishing abrasives.

Annnnnyway long story short as far as I'm concerned, I did try waxing barrels in the early 90s or so, I did see a velocity effect but it went away very quickly, indicating the wax wore off rather quickly.

A lot of people heard about waxing barrels and tried it. In the end if it were really a thing everyone would know about it and still be using it. We're not because it's not.

I had some success with some things using dry film lubes, but not barrels. My personal conclusion is for parts exposed to environment, setting them up to work well completely bare/dry and clean is the key to long-term consistent function.

Annnnnyway long story short as far as I'm concerned, I did try waxing barrels in the early 90s or so, I did see a velocity effect but it went away very quickly, indicating the wax wore off rather quickly.

A lot of people heard about waxing barrels and tried it. In the end if it were really a thing everyone would know about it and still be using it. We're not because it's not.

I had some success with some things using dry film lubes, but not barrels. My personal conclusion is for parts exposed to environment, setting them up to work well completely bare/dry and clean is the key to long-term consistent function.

This moment makes me proud. Rather than continue your "Na-ugh's", you actually posted something of value to the reader. Now, someone can read your actual experiences trying this and make a more informed decision. Congrats!

Haha! Yeah, I had fun writing that post. Unlike you, most people just write off the wax thing without trying it. I did it regularly and was very impressed with the results, as were the majority of people I knew who were doing the same. I just get frustrated when people say, "don't do that" with nothing to back it up. As if it were going to do harm to give it a try.